Page:Philological Museum v2.djvu/170

I have not been able to meet with that author's Syntagmata de Memnone, I do not know on what arguments he founded it. To me the Memnonia reported to exist at Ecbatana and at Susa seem very extraordinary, even on Mr J.'s hypothesis; and the closer they are examined the more suspicious do they appear. As to the former of these capitals, what Hyginus attributes to Memnon is the same work which Herodotus ascribes to Deioces. From the notice this historian takes of the Memnonian Susa, it seems fair to conclude that he had never heard of any connexion between Memnon and Ecbatana; and it is not very probable that such a report, if it had existed in his day, should have escaped him and have reached Hyginus. On the other hand when it was once known that Memnon had founded Susa, or at least built the palace there, it was quite in the spirit of Greek invention to extend the story to the Median metropolis. I do not therefore even think it necessary to have recourse to the Syrian Ecbatana, though this, which lay near the river Beleus and the Memnonium mentioned by Josephus and, as it would seem, alluded to by Oppian, might certainly, as Mr Jacobs himself admits, have been confounded with the Median^[1]. On the other hand the legend that Memnon dwelt at Susa appears to be confirmed by the authority of Herodotus, who repeatedly adds the epithet Memnonian to the name of the city or the palace. But it is still very questionable whether we ought to look upon this as the record of an ancient tradition. I lay no stress on the fact that Susa was founded by Darius Hystaspis^[2], because this statement, though probably authentic, needs not to be taken so literally as to exclude the previous existence of a town or a temple on the same site. But Diodorus (i. 46) relates that the Persians were said to have built or adorned the famous palaces in Persepolis, and Susa, and Media, with the treasures which they carried away from Egypt, and with the aid of Egyptian artists. I see no reason for questioning this fact, except with regard to the treasure; and I conceive that this is not only the most

1. Plin. N. H. v. 19. Promontorium Carmelum et in monte oppidum eodem nomine quondam Ecbatana dictum. Juxta Getta, Jebba : rivus Pagida sive Belus. It was the residence of the Babylonian Jews, Joseph. Vit. 6.
2. Plin. N. H. vi. 27. In Susiana vetus regia Persarum Susa a Dario Hystaspis filio condita.